Checklist for Setting Up an Online Business Presence for Creative Artists, Graphic Designers, Musicians, Photographers

Among people who have learned and developed creative skills, it’s sometimes challenging to convert our knowledge and experience into the fruit of financial income that can sustain the pursuit of our passion. This checklist provides some practical steps to help move people closer to establishing an infrastructure for income from creative arts.

Email. Setup a Google user account using the name you’d like for your business. Make sure it’s available as a domain name so the email and website name are the same. It’s not necessary, but helpful for name recognition later. The Google name will be your Gmail address and your YouTube channel name. You can also use this for Google Calendar to embed a calendar in your website.

StatCounter. Setup a StatCounter.com account and project for your new website. This will help you learn more about how people find and use your website.

Facebook Account. Setup a personal Facebook page. You’ll need to create an account for this if you don’t have one already. You only need one personal Facebook account. From that you can manage multiple organization, causes, or business pages.

Facebook Page. Setup an entityFacebook Page that represents your business name. Your WordPress.com account has a widget that makes it easy for people to click to like your page and follow news. [Click here to start…]

Paypal. Setup a PayPal account. This is good for donations and payments.

Music. If you’re a musician, setup an account with SoundCloud.com and also consider selling your music through iTunes. If you’re a musician, consider getting paid to have your music appear in videos. Collaborate with other artists to create projects. You’ll also want to signup with ReverbNation.com and consider using their site builder tool to create a website presence.

Outlets. If you create anything visual, consider getting paid for images of your work to be used as graphics for website design, album covers, book covers, etc.

Affordability. We all dream of the big project or big sale that will produce a month’s income or more. Yet, most income will be in smaller amounts. Think of a way to sell your creations at various price points. Such as, a photo framed in a gallery that will sell for $1000 as well as that same photo available on a coffee mug.